Google Drive Has Arrived, Big Brother Getting Bigger!

Google Drive suddenly popped up on my Google mail as I was busy writing. Always curious, I downloaded it and couldn't believe what I saw: suddenly, in about a minute or less, everything that I had ever stored on my computer was up there, inside of that neat-looking icon file called Google Drive. It sat on my computer's desktop and was reachable from my Gmail, making available everything I ever wrote, every picture I ever took, every video I ever made for any other of my devices as I travel around, my mobile phone included!Google Docs has become Google Drive. Now I can attach directly to any mail any doc I have on my computer.And if I wanted to, I could send up to 10 GB attachments to my Google Drive - that's 400 times larger than what Gmail previously allowed. No need for extra storage space in the Cloud, Google has thought of everything for me.Wow!I'll be honest with you. I never had that much to attach anyway, I'm not a corporation! But I do note two things of interest:1.Google neatly did away with the need for any storage service for most people - unless you don't trust Google. I have friends who argue that if Google collapses, all their stuff will disappear, including blogs such as this one. Maybe. Quite frankly, if Google collapses, it's very, very likely that the whole of Internet will have collapsed, but that's just my humble opinion. No doubt storage services in the Cloud will continue to thrive on the basis of people's dislike for or lack of confidence in Google.2. Google is Big Brother Watching Over You: please note I wrote "over you". This is not the famous Big Brother , the mysterious dictator of Oceania, a totalitarian state in Orwell's 1984 who is watching you. No, here Google is watching over you. Google is out to help you.

Fine and good.I just hope Google stays the same, with that altruistic corporate culture, a little bizarre given the American love story with jungle capitalism.One can't help recall that America is the historical birthplace of robber barons, and Americans ever since their country was created, harbor an unshakeable admiration for self-made men. The American Dream. Yet, all too often, they are nothing but heartless business tycoons out to grab your last dollar. Still, one has to admit that America is also the country that has given birth to a remarkably large number of philantropic billionnaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, and the latter is constantly calling for more taxes on the rich, a remarkable selfless stand. We're still waiting for Europeans, Chinese, Indian, Mexican and Brazilian billionnaires to join the charity club. Hey, any Greek shipowner out there willing to save his country and forego the tax holiday granted by his governmnt? Alas...When all is said and done, America remains an amazing country, with both the best and the worst. Others need to catch up!Your opinion? Did you get Google Drive and are you using it?

Two lifelong passions: writing fiction and painting. One serious job: economist specialized in humanitarian and development aid. One hobby: cooking.

Work: 25 years with United Nations - ended career as FAO Director for Europe/Central Asia. Before that: banking, editing, free-lance journalism, college teaching, marketing, and always writing and painting.

Published in English (digitally on all platforms, including Amazon, see author page; printed books from CreateSpace):- Science fiction/Speculative Fiction/Climate fiction: Gateway to Forever (2014)- Romance/ Boomer Lit: Crimson Clouds (2012; originally: A Hook in the Sky)- Cross genre (historical, paranormal, thriller): Luna Rising - Short stories: Death on Facebook, Short Stories for the Digital Age (2011)- Poetry: contributed to "Freeze Frame", anthology edited by Oscar Sparrow (2012)- Non fiction: "The Development Dilemma", an essay on development aid (1990 - out of print);